On November 11, roughly 100 Israeli extremists carried out one of the largest settler attacks in recent memory, targeting Palestinian factories and farmland in the northern West Bank, between Nablus and Tulkarm.
Footage from the scene showed dozens of masked men storming a dairy farm in Beit Lid, smashing machinery and equipment, and setting vehicles ablaze. IDF soldiers who attempted to stop the rioters were also assaulted, and a military vehicle was vandalized.
Four suspects were detained, but three were released within 24 hours. The remaining suspect, a minor apprehended at the scene by security forces, now faces criminal charges.
Masked Israeli settlers destroyed property belonging to a dairy farm in Beit Lid in the occupied West Bank.
The U.N. humanitarian office said there were the most Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in October since 2006. https://t.co/lsWV5vgeHy pic.twitter.com/lUVGsbXSce
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 13, 2025
A growing pattern of settler violence
According to the Israeli security establishment, 752 incidents classified as “nationalist crime” or “Jewish terrorism” have taken place in the West Bank over the past year. In a recent statement, Israeli police reported that “more than 50 indictments have been filed against individuals involved in severe violent incidents in Judea and Samaria” since the start of the year. Even so, the phenomenon has sparked international outrage, including from Israel’s closest allies.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned last Wednesday: “Certainly there’s some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza.” Within the IDF, the central concern is that a failure to curb the surge in settler violence risks undermining the military’s ability to manage critical fronts in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has cautioned that “these anarchists could set the area aflame in a moment,” creating a scenario in which forces would need to be “immediately diverted from the Gaza and Lebanon borders… without there being any security interest in doing so right now.”
Political fallout inside Israel
Opposition lawmakers have accused the government – particularly National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – of willful neglect. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said it was “time to move Ben Gvir aside and bring an end” to the attacks, which he argued “harm Israel, harm us around the world, bring shame to Judaism and are a stain on Zionism.”
“These people are violent criminals, and it’s time to deal with this seriously,” he added. Under Ben Gvir’s tenure, enforcement of the law in the West Bank has sharply declined. Channel 12 reported a 73% drop in the number of investigations opened since 2023. Police have initiated only 60 inquiries into settler violence this year, down from 150 in 2024 and 235 in 2023, figures that opposition leaders cite as evidence of a systemic retreat from law enforcement.
A video from the West Bank shows a group of radical right wing settlers brutally assaulting a Palestinian family.
We can never stay quiet in the face of these injustices.
Harming these innocent people will not make anyone safer, whether Israeli or Palestinian.
Settler… pic.twitter.com/koNZ5jw9LK
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 21, 2025
Facing mounting criticism in response to the violence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem last week with a public call for tougher action, declaring, “I call on the law enforcement authorities to deal with the rioters to the fullest extent of the law. I intend to deal with this personally, and convene the relevant ministers as soon as possible to address this serious phenomenon.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar followed with a statement on X, writing that “the Jewish rioters in Judea and Samaria harm the State of Israel, disgrace Judaism, and cause damage to the settlement project. They are not us. They are not the State of Israel.” He added that the IDF, Shin Bet, and police “must act decisively and firmly to stop this rampage, which is also directed at our soldiers and police officers.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz likewise voiced his “full backing” for Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, head of IDF Central Command responsible for addressing such violence. “We will not tolerate attempts by a small, violent, criminal group of anarchistic law-breakers to take the law into their own hands…” Katz said. He added that he will soon submit a cabinet proposal for “tools and a budget” to enable “extensive and systemic action” against extremist settlers in the West Bank.
On Thursday, Netanyahu convened a special discussion on the matter. Shin Bet chief David Zini delivered a firm warning against the violence, saying that curbing it would require coordinated action across all security agencies. During the meeting, responsibilities were redistributed among the IDF, Shin Bet, and police in an effort to streamline enforcement. The security establishment also presented recommendations for confronting Jewish terrorism, including establishing an investigation team for serious cases, deploying Israeli forces on the outskirts of Palestinian villages in key friction zones, and creating frameworks proposed by the Education and Welfare Ministries for “calming discourse” for at-risk youths who have dropped out of the educational system and participate in attacks. These programs would be led by psychologists and other trained professionals.
Despite the public condemnations and fresh policy pledges, Palestinians reported a new wave of settler violence across the West Bank overnight Thursday into Friday. In the northern West Bank, several buildings were torched in the village of Luban a-Sharqiya, causing extensive property damage but no injuries. Nearby, in Abu Falah near Ramallah, an agricultural building was also set on fire, allegedly by settlers.
Further north, a plant nursery in Deir Sharaf near Nablus was vandalized, while in Huwara, more than a dozen Palestinian-owned vehicles were burned in a parking lot. Witnesses reported seeing masked settlers fleeing the scene. In the South Hebron Hills village of Markaz, several Palestinians were reportedly beaten with clubs by masked men, leaving one resident hospitalized in moderate condition.
